226. What is the link between the sacraments and the Church?

 

226. What is the link between the sacraments and the Church?

(Comp 226) Christ has entrusted the sacraments to his Church. They are the sacraments “of the Church” in a twofold sense: they are “from her” insofar as they are actions of the Church which is the sacrament of Christ’s action; and they are “for her” in as much as they build up the Church.

“In brief”

(CCC 1132) The Church celebrates the sacraments as a priestly community structured by the baptismal priesthood and the priesthood of ordained ministers. 

To deepen and explain

(CCC 1117) As she has done for the canon of Sacred Scripture and for the doctrine of the faith, the Church, by the power of the Spirit who guides her "into all truth," has gradually recognized this treasure received from Christ and, as the faithful steward of God's mysteries, has determined its "dispensation" (Jn 16:13; cf. Mt 13:52; 1Cor 4:1). Thus the Church has discerned over the centuries that among liturgical celebrations there are seven that are, in the strict sense of the term, sacraments instituted by the Lord. (CCC 1118) The sacraments are "of the Church" in the double sense that they are "by her" and "for her." They are "by the Church," for she is the sacrament of Christ's action at work in her through the mission of the Holy Spirit. They are "for the Church" in the sense that "the sacraments make the Church" (St. Augustine, De civ. Dei, 22, 17: PL 41, 779; cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III, 64, 2 ad 3), since they manifest and communicate to men, above all in the Eucharist, the mystery of communion with the God who is love, One in three persons. 

On reflection

(CCC 1119) Forming "as it were, one mystical person" with Christ the head, the Church acts in the sacraments as "an organically structured priestly community" (LG 11; cf. Pius XII, Mystici Corporis (1943). Through Baptism and Confirmation the pRiestly people is enabled to celebrate the liturgy, while those of the faithful "who have received Holy Orders, are appointed to nourish the Church with the word and grace of God in the name of Christ" (LG 11; cf. Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, 1943). 

 

 (Next question: What is the sacramental character?)